Search Site   
News Stories at a Glance
Deere 4440 cab tractor racked up $18,000 at farm retirement auction
Indiana legislature passes bills for ag land purchases, broadband grants
Make spring planting safety plans early to avoid injuries
Michigan soybean grower visits Dubai to showcase U.S. products
Scientists are interested in eclipse effects on crops and livestock
U.S. retail meat demand for pork and beef both decreased in 2023
Iowa one of the few states to see farms increase in 2022 Ag Census
Trade, E15, GREET, tax credits the talk at Commodity Classic
Ohioan travels to Malta as part of US Grains Council trade mission
FFA members learn about Australian culture, agriculture during trip
Timing of Dicamba ruling may cause issues for 2024 planting
   
Archive
Search Archive  
   
Good time to tie up loose ends and clean before the holidays

Nov. 16-22, 2009
Between the end of summer and the shortest day of the year, I battle a constant feeling of disbelief. All things come to a halt rapidly; they die, die, die; the garden is all brown stalks and the ground is tightening. What continues to grow and bloom does so in isolation.

-Jamaica Kincaid
The astronomical outlook

The Sandhill Crane Migration Moon, new on Nov. 16, waxes throughout the period, entering its second quarter on Nov. 24 at 4:39 p.m.

On Nov. 22, the sun enters the early winter sign of Sagittarius and reaches within 2 degrees of solstice at the same time. In November’s third week, the rate of increase in the length of the night finally begins to slow to about 10 minutes in seven days instead of 15 minutes.

That good news comes none too soon. By Nov. 20, sunrise time is close to half an hour later than it was on Halloween, and sunset time is just a few minutes from its earliest setting time of the year.
August’s Vega is setting now after sunset. Cygnus, the swan of the Northern Cross and the gauge of autumn’s progress, is disappearing south. October’s Pegasus and Andromeda fall away behind it. By 10 o’clock, the Pleiades have moved well up in the east, leading on the Hyades, Taurus and Aldebaran.

Orion towers along the horizon, followed by Sirius and Procyon. Castor and Pollux, the rulers of January, stand above Orion’s hounds. The Leonids are the shooting stars of November. Watch for them after midnight on Nov. 17-18.

The weather

Now normal highs fall into the mid to upper 40s throughout most of Ohio and Indiana, and lows flirt with the freezing mark. Along the Kentucky border, highs are slightly warmer, but typical lows have caught up with the chilling progress of more northerly towns.

The cold front that typically arrives near Nov. 19 drops snow across the Plains, the Midwest and the East four years in a decade. The Nov. 23 weather system almost always brings cold and precipitation for Thanksgiving travel, and the Nov. 28 front is often followed by a brief warming spell, which sometimes lasts until the advent of early winter at the end of the first week of December.

Almanac daybook

Nov. 16: The fourth major November high-pressure system crosses the Mississippi near this date, and new moon today is expected to strengthen its effects.

Nov. 17: The last woolly-bear caterpillars mark one of the many borders of autumn, as do the shedding of the silver maple, pear and beech leaves, the new growth on the spruce, the flowering of witch hazel and the first snow.

Nov. 18: Feed the lawn and pasture. Fall is a better time than spring – the winter’s rain and snow, freezing and thawing, will gently work the fertilizer through the soil. Mulch the wet perennial beds to prevent drying and cold damage.

Nov. 19: The fallen leaves become darker now as they gradually decay. Measure the progress of the new year in their continuing changes. The breakdown of the Osage fruit through the months ahead will also time the winter.

Nov. 20: Leaves of decorative pear trees fall near this date, creating a major change in the suburban landscapes that favor these hardy ornamental trees.

Nov. 21: Parsley and thyme should be brought inside in pots for winter seasonings. Outside, wrap young transplants to protect them against frost cracking.

Nov. 22: Radical shifts of temperature associated with late November high-pressure systems have been linked to lambing sickness, hypocalcaemia or a sudden calcium deficiency in sheep. Since weather affects all mammals, it makes sense to pay attention to the effect of cold waves on your own health and that of your children.

Mind and body clock

As harvest in the field and garden comes to an end, tie up all the loose ends of the year before the Christmas holidays begin. Even if you live in an apartment, try to do some year-end cleaning and organization now.

Since depression and the winter blues are becoming more common, late November is a favorable time to start a winter exercise program. A gentle routine of low-impact exercises improves both mental and physical health.

Fish, game, livestock and diet

The waxing moon is overhead in the late afternoon and evening this week, making that time the best for fishing, hunting, feeding and overeating. As the barometer falls in advance of the Nov. 20 and 24 cold fronts, eating activity should be most intense.

Seasonal topography

The temporal countryside takes on its autumnal contours from the increasingly violent movements of the Earth’s atmosphere as it tilts away from the sun.

 Graphs of barometric pressure reveal many of the topographical patterns of the season. August’s barometric configurations are slow and gentle like low, rolling dunes. Heat waves show up as wide plateaus. Thunderstorms are sharp, shallow troughs in the mellow waves of the atmospheric landscape.

At the close of late summer, the year has begun its ascent to the steep cliffs of December. By the beginning of October, the barometric waves are stronger; the high-pressure peaks become taller and the lows are deeper, with almost every valley bringing rain.

Tapering floral sequences and the gradual surge of leafturn occur amid the diminishing expanse of middle September. From the broad lowland of warmth with its six months of birdsong and its 100 days of insect calls, the sun pulls the land up into the foothills of the year, where asters and goldenrod bloom and where trees are gold and red.

Middle fall is the rough piedmont of another country, stripping foliage, putting buds into dormancy, burning away the undergrowth and revealing the dark hillsides. At the end of late fall, December’s great range of cold and snow fills the horizon.

Beyond it lies another immense upland, the frigid, high plateau of deep winter, in which nothing ever seems to grow or change until the ground crumbles and gives way, shattered by thaws, and time tumbles down into the sudden, stormy gorge of March.

Poor Will’s Almanack for 2010 is now available. Send $16 (includes shipping and handling) for each copy to: Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. For more information or to order with a credit card, visit http://poorwillsalmanack.com

11/11/2009